


Third Time's the Charm

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Day At The Beach, Domestic Bliss, Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Keith and Shiro are Siblings, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Road Trips, keith teaches ap marine biology at a hs, lance is a marine biologist/veterinarian at an aquarium, they're a power couple okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 04:30:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12124551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Keith Kogane, an AP marine biology teacher, really wants to propose to his boyfriend of four years, Lance Vasquez-McClain. But sometimes, things just don't go according to plan.





	Third Time's the Charm

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote a majority of this before the vld guidebook came out but i never got around to posting it so let me just say i fucking called lance sharks-are-my-favorite-animal vasquez-mcclain

“Hey, take the next exit.” Lance straightened up in the passenger seat and pointed into the darkness out of his window. Keith hummed and obliged, absently wondering what Lance had in mind. It was their first time in Chicago together, but Lance had lived there for a few years before college, and seemed to know just about everything about the city. If he said to walk right into Lake Michigan, Keith would probably do it. “Alright,” Lance said slowly, stretching to look at something. “We're here.”

He gave instructions to park, and, though he rolled his eyes at the specifics Lance went into, Keith followed them. “What is this place?” He asked as he opened Lance’s door, waiting for him to finish tying his shoes.

Lance tilted his head up to look at Keith, a soft grin on his face. “Read the signs,” he said with a wink.

“You’re insufferable.”

“But, you love me,” Lance offered in return. Keith sighed and started to shut Lance’s door, but his action was met with an indignant yell. “Hey! Don’t deny it!”

“Yeah, I guess I kinda have a crush on you,” Keith mused, leaning against the only-slightly-ajar door.

“Babe!” Lance jumped from the seat and pushed Keith away, pouting at the laugh that escaped the shorter man’s lips.

“Don’t ‘babe’ me.” Keith locked the car and followed Lance inside. The ‘building,’ if you could call it that, had five businesses, but it only contained one twenty-four hour establishment. A McDonald’s. The two men wandered to the counter, where a tall boy of about nineteen stood. They ordered and found a seat, which wasn’t hard, considering that they were literally the only customers. “So,” Keith started, fighting back a yawn, “we’re above the highway?”

Lance nodded and turned his head towards one of the wall-length windows. “This is a bridge restaurant,” he mumbled. He had a strange look in his eyes, one that suggested that he wanted to say something else but was holding back.

“You sure missed the city, huh?” Keith didn’t want to push him, but he wanted to talk more about their impromptu road trip. Keith was a teacher, so he was off all summer. Lance worked in an aquarium as a veterinarian and had taken two days off so that they could drive up from their home in Florida, going sightseeing and doing general tourist-y things along the way.

Lance nodded and brought Keith away from his thoughts. “Yeah, I wanted to show you an Oasis-”

“-Oasis?” Keith watched the three am traffic out of the corner of his eye.

“It’s what these places are called,” Lance supplied.

“I thought they were bridge restaurants?”

“Complicated.” Lance hummed through a yawn, his eyes scanning the walls as though he had been there hundred of times.

Keith smiled and reached out to clasp Lance’s wrist with one hand. “So, why are we here?” He asked. “Is this, like, the most romantic place in the city?” He wiggled an eyebrow, a habit he had picked up from the one and only Lance Vasquez-McClain.

Lance chuckled and leaned forward. “It’s really not even in the city, but it is _super_ romantic.” Keith ran his thumb over Lance’s watch and felt his heart thud in his chest. He could do it. He could pull out the box. He could open it. Pop the question. The contents of his pocket felt like lead, and he was suddenly painfully aware of the way Lance looked at him like he was the entire universe.

“Wow, I can’t believe you’re even letting me pay for this,” he said sarcastically, looking around in faux awe. It really was a little bit breathtaking, though, what with the way that they were almost suspended over the highway. Cars whizzed under them, oblivious to the lovesick fool planning his proposal just above.

Lance grinned and brushed a lock of hair away from Keith's face with his free hand. “God, I love you,” he chuckled.

“I love you, too,” Keith responded, lowering his eyes to the grimy table. “I love you.”

Lance sighed with amusement. “You don't have to say it twice.”

Keith smiled warmly. His heart was pounding, his brain was whirring, his shirt felt too tight. He spoke before he could stop himself, before he could get out of his chair and down onto one knee. “I want to marry you.”

Lance looked surprised, but he covered it up quickly with a smirk. “I would want to marry me, too.”

Keith sighed, the ring box in his pocket burning against his leg. “La-” Suddenly the cashier was there, setting the tray between them silently. Keith shifted his eyes to the young man and thanked him, reaching out to snag a few of Lance’s fries.

It wasn’t brought up again.

* * *

“Do you have everything, Mullet?”

Keith slid the small box into his trunks’ pocket and took a deep breath. “Yep. Let’s head out, Sniper.”

Keith was barely out of their driveway when Lance started to speak again. “I can’t believe you still call me ‘Sniper’!” He whined, pouting dramatically. “We played paintball _once!_ ”

Keith snorted. “Yeah, it took me two weeks to get the paint off of my forehead. Do you know how hard that was to explain to high schoolers? ‘Yeah, I know my face is all blue and purple but they're not bruises, my boyfriend just kept hitting the ventilation slits when we played paintball over the weekend and now there are probably permanent stains above my eyebrows.’” He rolled his eyes and shifted his hands on the wheel. “Plus, I only call you that when you call me ‘Mullet.’ I got an undercut two years ago.”

“You could’ve said that to them! And part of me still sees you as the guy who came in to buy a coffee at eight every night. Your mullet was out in full force back then,” Lance protested animatedly.

The tone shifted as Keith fell silent. “I only did that so I could see you every day,” he finally admitted with a shy smile.

“Grow the mullet?” Lance asked, frowning. Keith took an exit.

“No,” he laughed, “buy the coffee, that was _not decaf,_ at night.”

“Are you _kidding_ me?”

“Not at all.”

“I can’t believe you never made a move.” Lance sighed and leaned his head against his window.

“You’re the one who took four months to finally write your number on my cup,” Keith retorted.

“I hate you.”

“You love me.” Keith sat back in his seat a little more and glanced at his boyfriend.

He was already watching the shorter man, a soft grin on his face. “You’re right.”

Before long, they were at the beach, Lance hooting and hollering as he grabbed the towels and umbrella from the trunk. “You are an adult, Lance,” Keith teased, leaning against the gas cap and watching Lance spray himself with sunscreen.

“I don’t care! I love the beach!” Was Lance’s only response. Keith smiled, slipping his hand into his pocket. _Today could be the day…_ “Babe!” Lance yelled suddenly. “Look!” Keith snapped his head in the direction Lance was pointing, his eyes catching on an ice cream shop.

“You don’t have to look so excited,” he said playfully, pulling on his sunglasses and grabbing the picnic basket. “We go there every time we come to the beach.”

“Yes, but I haven’t seen Hunk in _forever!_ ” Keith shrugged, locked the car, and followed Lance to the building.

About forty-five minutes later, Lance was laying a towel down on the sand as Keith propped up an umbrella. Keith glanced down at his boyfriend, his blue eyes closed under the rose-tinted sunglasses, his mouth curved into a soft smile. Keith was so in love with him, he had no clue what to do with himself. A cloud started to pass in front of the sun, shadows dancing across Lance’s tan skin. Keith reached into his pocket, his fingers wrapping around the felt box that weighed a few tons. “Lance,” he started, licking his lips and crouching in the sand.

And that was when it started to pour.

Lance shrieked and jumped to his feet, the thick raindrops splattering against his bare shoulders and flattening his hair.

Keith sighed. Of course. He couldn’t help but smile, though. For someone who loved the rain as much as Lance did, it was really funny to watch him freak out when caught off guard.

Keith stood and slung the towel over his bare shoulders, holding the umbrella out for Lance.

He took it with a grin. “Race you to the car,” he challenged.

Keith let out a huff of laughter and forgot that his plans had been ruined for a moment. “Try me, Vasquez.”

Thunder boomed above them as they sprinted to the parking lot, spurring the both of them to reach the dry comfort of their car faster. By the time that they had made it the two blocks, they were laughing uncontrollably and drenched from head to toe. Lance swung the umbrella to point it at Keith triumphantly. “I win!” He laughed, his eyes sparkling as water traced over his cheeks.

Keith shrugged and stepped forward, getting within inches of Lance’s face. There was a fire in his blue eyes, warm and intense and inviting. He put his hand on the back of Lance’s neck, threading his fingers through the damp brown hair that was in slight need of a trim.”I think I win, because I get to do this,” he murmured, leaning in with dramatically puckered lips.

“I guess I get to cross ‘kiss a hot guy in the rain’ off of my bucket list,” Lance said once they separated.

Keith laughed and opened the driver’s side door. He tossed the towel into the back seat and put the keys in the ignition as he waited for Lance to get in. “Sorry for not checking the weather before we left,” he said.

Lance waved him off. “It’s okay, it was still fun. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Keith bit his lip and ran his fingers over the edge of his pocket. There was always next time.

* * *

Lance sighed and settled onto the couch next to Keith. “What was the craziest thing that happened at school this week?” He murmured, eyes half closed.

Keith shook his head and took a sip of Lance’s tea. “An auto-tech student caught a truck on fire on Wednesday,” he said, as though just bringing it up made him want to scream. (It did.) “Then, Thursday, the same kid rolled the golf cart that belongs to Moss-”

“And Moss is…?” Lance prompted through a yawn. Yeah, he knew some of the teachers that worked with Keith, but he really only knew the ones in the same department as Keith was, the sciences. Keith thought it was cute that he was still interested in learning about the other teachers, even if they were never going to be brought up again.

“Moss is the welding teacher. The auto-tech kids were fixing the transmission on the cart or something,” Keith said. “Anyways, that _same fucking kid_ also literally drove through one of the bay doors in the auto shop today.” He was beyond exasperated. “And of course my classroom has a perfect view of the front of the auto shop, so my students just wouldn't shut the fuck up about it.” He rubbed at his eyes and checked his watch. “God, this week was rough.”

Lance leaned closer and grabbed at Keith's hand. “If it makes you feel any better, a little kid threw up all over my lab coat today.”

Keith snorted. “It does make me feel better, thank you.”

Lance looked at him and traced circles into his knuckles. “I'm tired, I'm gonna go to bed,” he said around another yawn, pulling himself off of the couch.

“Alright” Keith kept holding onto Lance’s hand as the taller man stood, reaching for his phone with the other. “I'm going to text Shiro, see if he wants to have lunch with us on Sunday. I'll be in bed in a minute.” Keith checked the time as Lance left the room, unsurprised to see that it was just past one in the morning.

 **_  
To: Shiro  
_** _Hey, bro. Do u wanna go 2 Altean’s Sunday 4 lunch w Lance & I? _

  
He tapped send and waited for it to show that it was delivered before he stood and made his way to his and Lance’s bedroom.

When he woke, he could hear music blasting from the kitchen. Apparently, Lance was already up; which wasn't unusual in their home, Keith loved to sleep in on the weekends. He checked his texts and was excited to see that Shiro was able to do lunch the following day. After clicking out of his messages, he decided to scroll through Instagram until Lance came back in.

Not even a few minutes passed before Lance was knocking on the door frame. “Good morning, sleeping beauty!” He chirped. He was carrying a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in one of his hands, his hair was mussed up and wet, and he wasn't wearing his glasses. “Got an emergency call around four this morning. Sangre was sick,” he explained. “I was going to get back into bed but I needed to shower first, and by the time I was done washing all of the aquarium gunk off of me, I was all of the way awake. So, I made us breakfast.” He brandished the plate and walked over to Keith's side of the bed.

He sat up and took the food from Lance’s hands, giving him a grateful smile. “Is she okay?” He asked as Lance smiled back.

“Yeah, I guess she was already fine by the time I got in there.” He shrugged and grabbed a piece of the toast. “I gave her a checkup and she was all good.”

“That's good,” Keith mumbled around a bite of egg.

“Yeah,” Lance agreed. “I'm gonna go grab the coffee and my food.”

“I'll be here.” Keith watched Lance walk back down the hall, wearing one of Keith's old t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants. An idea wiggled into the back of his mind, bringing warmth into his chest and a dizziness into his head. Lance was back before he could do anything to act on the rough plan, handing Keith his coffee and setting his on his bedside table. But the moment he left the room to grab the final plate of food, Keith dove to his own bedside table, reaching into the top drawer and grabbing out the box. His heart thudded as he slid the box under the covers and pressed it beneath his bare leg. Lance came back in at that exact moment, a lazy grin on his face and the second plate of food in his hands.

“Alright!” He said, sliding into bed next to Keith. “Are you ready for some killer breakfast in bed action?” He rubbed his hands together excitedly and looked over. Keith watched him with wide eyes. _This is your moment. Do it._

He cleared his throat carefully, pushing himself to a sitting position and settling his half-empty plate near the foot of the bed. “Actually,” he said, his voice scratchy and rough with emotion, “I have something to ask you first.” He lifted his leg an inch to grab the box and turned to Lance. He looked down at the sheets, summoning the courage to do what he so desperately wanted to. He took a shaky breath, opened the box, and made eye contact with Lance. His eyes were like saucers, his eyebrows drawn in in anticipation. “I’m sorry that I’m not- I’m not in a tux and I’m not on one knee, but…” He took another breath and smiled. “Lance James Vazquez-McClain, will you marry me?” He didn’t have time to celebrate getting his entire sentence out before Lance was on top of him, knocking him backward into the sheets.

“Oh my fucking _god,_ Keith!” He yelled, arms around Keith’s neck. “Yes! Yes!” Keith let himself relax against the pillows, his eyes fluttering shut for a moment. He could feel the dopey grin on his face, the warmth spreading throughout his entire body. When he opened his eyes, Lance was hovering just above him, tears threatening to fall. “I love you.”

Keith leaned upwards to meet his lips in a chaste kiss. “I love you, too.” Lance pulled them flush against each other, pressing his face into the crook of Keith’s neck. Once they were both sitting again, which was after a few minutes of just lying and holding each other tightly, Keith opened the box again. “Give me your hand,” he murmured, reaching out. Lance gave him his left hand, and Keith slid the ring on slowly. “God, you have no idea how long I’ve been planning this,” he breathed with a chuckle, rubbing a stray tear away subconsciously.

“Yeah?” Lance hummed, pushing his face back into the crook of Keith’s neck. “Tell me, then.”

Keith hummed. “Well, you remember when I proposed at that 'Mirage'-”

“ _Oa_ _sis,_ babe, and that was not a proposal.” Lance chuckled against Keith’s sensitive skin, his breath warm and gentle.

“It was!” He insisted, though he was holding back a laugh.

“You didn’t have a ring,” Lance countered.

“It was in my pocket.”

Lance pulled back, looking at Keith with wide eyes. “You’ve had the ring for _months?”_

Keith bit his lip. “Yeah. I was going to propose that day at the beach, too. Before it started to rain.”

Lance huffed out a laugh and leaned in for a chaste kiss. “I can’t believe it,” he murmured as he pulled away, his eyes closed.

“I wanted to propose so bad,” Keith whined, “but both times I tried, it didn’t work out. I was going to plan something big, but then this morning…” He sighed with contentment, reaching out for Lance’s hands. “You were wearing my clothes and _God,_ you look so good wearing a shirt that has my name on it… I knew I had to propose on the spot.”

Lance laughed and squeezed Keith’s hands. “They do say that the third time’s the charm.”

**Author's Note:**

> okay some more quick details that i wasnt going to work into the fic itself so here  
> -once a year keith takes his students to the aquarium for a field trip and he pulls some strings to get lance as the tour guide even though lance is technically just a vet there and isnt qualified for tours  
> -keiths students are TIRED of him always talkin abt his boyf during class like keith never concludes a lesson without talking about something lance has said about an animal hes worked with  
> -he's had lance come into class to talk abt pursuing biology as a career and before lance walks in he asks his students if his hair looks good  
> -sometimes keith comes to the aquarium to surprise lance and it's so cute bc all of his coworkers tease him for hours after keith leaves  
> -lance and keith met in college, where they were both marine bio majors but they didn't know about that until after they got together bc their schedules didnt line up at all  
> -how they 'met' was briefly mentioned in the fic but basically lance was a hot barista but he only worked nights and keith was pining really hard and they always talked when lance was making his coffee and then it slipped out after months that they were majoring in the same thing and then they became friends really fast  
> -they confessed their feelings for each other right before graduation bc they thought they'd never see each other again but then they were like 'actually? let's get together long distance' and then it turned out they were from neighboring towns so they were like 'o shit waddup' and they both worked in keiths town so then eventually moved into keiths apartment  
> -i would keep going but im so tired


End file.
